This week’s Time Capsule looks at a circus, lawsuits, robberies, Ernest Barrett, moonshine, the Duchess of Vinings and Haiti.

100 years ago …

In the Friday, Sept. 25, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a story about the death of J.A. Bagwell, the former editor of The Marietta Courier at the time it was absorbed by The Marietta Journal, who was fatally injured in a car wreck. Bagwell, who had been very successful in the automobile business since leaving newspapers, was killed when his car hit an obstruction and overturned while crossing a set of railroad tracks in LaGrange.

Also in that edition it was reported that the Ringling Brothers’ Circus would give two performances in Atlanta on Oct. 12. One of the new show features was “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,” a colossal production presented with a cast of 1,350, a ballet of of 300 dancing girls, 745 horses, 32 camels and a trainload of scenery, costumes and properties.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, Sept. 20, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal it was reported that a former Southern Railway engineer who was crippled in a fire on railroad property was awarded $125,000 in damages by a Cobb County Superior Court jury. Court sources said that at the time “it may be the largest sum ever granted by a jury in a lawsuit tried in Cobb.”

The A-1 Finance Company in Mableton was reported in the Monday, Sept. 21, 1964 paper as being held up by a lone bandit. It was the second time in two weeks that the business had been robbed. The manager told the Journal the bandit got away with about $100 in the current robbery and that the lone bandit in the previous robbery had made off with $485.

Juries at the current September term of the Cobb Superior Court were reported in the Tuesday, Sept. 22, 1964 paper as having awarded verdicts totaling $62,000 in two State Highway Department Interstate 75 condemnation cases. In the first case, $23,000 was awarded to a couple for the taking of 16 acres of their land and for damages to their remaining property. The second case awarded $39,000 to a man for the taking of 14½ acres of his 20 acre tract and damages to the remaining property.

Also that day, it was reported that heavy damage was done to the grill area of the Pinetree Country Club when a fire erupted in a deep fat fryer the evening before.

The Phelan Finance Company office in the Belmont Hills Shopping Center in Smyrna was robbed of approximately $500 when a young white man, showing a revolver that he carried in his pocket, forced an employee to put office receipts in a sack. The Smyrna Police Department said the robber grabbed a bank bag containing $481.26 and fled from the scene in a 1965 Oldsmobile with a second person in the get-away car.

Ernest Barrett, chairman-elect of the first Cobb County multiple commission, was reported in the Thursday, Sept. 24, 1964 paper as laying plans for a brief, cool fishing trip in Florida to recover from a long, hot campaign to victory. Barrett was elected chief of the new five-man board of commissioners over Jack Henderson by a substantial 3,000-vote margin in the Democratic primary runoffs the day before. Bob Austin, a Smyrna civic leader who formerly served on the Smyrna city council, was named as Barrett’s deputy commissioner.

In the two Democratic runoffs for commission seats, B.L. “Bill” Oliver reversed the primary lead held by Dewey Gable and won, while Tommy Brown held his narrow primary advantage to defeat Steve Frey. A total of 23,976 voters turned out for the runoff election, a figure which was well above expectations of most authorities. In the primary, the total was 24,877. The unofficial tally in the chairman’s race gave 13,367 to Barrett and 10,303 for Henderson. Barrett, owner of dry cleaning and laundry establishments, led by 2,733 votes over Henderson, a veterinarian, in the primary two weeks earlier.

In the Friday, Sept. 26, 1964 paper it was reported that a patient deputy got his man and 150 gallons of moonshine whiskey. Deputy Sheriff Clifford Brown, new to the Sheriff’s Office from the Smyrna Police Department, saw a car traveling on State 6 that he believed to be a whiskey hauler. Deputy Brown waited for the car to return and stopped it. Inside the car he found assorted gallon jugs all containing a white liquid resembling water that turned out to be non-tax paid whiskey.

20 years ago …

More than two years after the death of the “Duchess of Vinings,” it was reported in the Monday, Sept. 19, 1994 MDJ that the future was finally coming together for the buildings she left behind. The history that was attached to Ruth Carter Vanneman, “the irascible Vinings matriarch” known as the Duchess, were to be preserved. At a street party and reception, the Vinings Historical Preservation Society was scheduled to officially take control of both the Pace House and the Yarbrough House, known for years as the home of the Old Vinings Inn.

The 130-year-old Pace House on Paces Mill Road was deeded to the society to be restored and maintained as a museum. Built about 15 years after the Pace House, the Yarbrough House, at the southeast corner of Paces Mill and Paces Ferry roads, would be donated for the society’s use by a subsidiary of Piedmont Hospital – which was planning to open a two-story medical office behind the building within a year.

The collapse of Haiti’s military rulers was reported in the Tuesday, Sept. 20, 1994 paper as being welcomed by U.S. Reps. Newt Gingrich and George “Buddy” Darden, who both remained steadfast against then-President Bill Clinton’s ultimately successful threat of force to bring down the dictatorship. The invasion was averted when the last-gasp diplomatic mission by former President Jimmy Carter; U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Perry; and Colin Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeded in persuading the Haitian Army commander Raoul Cedras to abdicate.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at a burglar, a bank robbery, desegregation and Fred Tokars.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Sept. 18, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a story about a hobo burglar that struck a few residences on Kennesaw Avenue.

At the first home, the burglar stole $2.50 from a coat pocket and left the coat on the home’s well. There was apparently a considerable amount of money in a trunk and a purse that was overlooked. While the homeowner was asleep on a side porch, the burglar “prowled all over” the inside of a second home and took a gold watch and $6.50 but left jewelry untouched on a dressing table. The burglar also was reported to have opened the refrigerator, but only found nothing cooked and left the two dressed hens behind.

At the last house, the burglar stopped in the pantry and was reported as feasting “to an extent that he must have sorely regretted.” Half a big bowl of chicken salad, an entire sweet potato pie, a quart of sweet milk and a quart of scuppernong wine was reported consumed and that a dozen jars of fruit and preserves were missing.

Also in that edition it was reported that Josiah Carter, editor of the Marietta Journal, had been suddenly stricken with an illness while taking a walk in Washington, D.C., and had to undergo an operation at the Garfield Hospital.

50 years ago …

Free two-hour parking was reported in the Sunday, Sept. 13, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal as being unanimously approved by the Marietta City Council and going into effect around the Marietta Square in October for a four-month trial period. The action, put in the form of a temporary ordinance, was taken because merchants felt the meters were a deterrent to business on the Square.

Republican leaders were reported in the Monday, Sept. 14, 1964 paper as having issued a call to Cobb Countians to join a motorcade from Marietta to Atlanta to greet Republican presidential candidate Sen. Barry Goldwater. Between 50 and 60 cars were expected to leave from Larry Bell Auditorium in Marietta and travel to Hurt Park in downtown Atlanta to hear Sen. Goldwater speak.

Also that day, a driver charged with hit and run was reported as being rescued by his victim. Officers said a Marietta man was driving along Whitlock Avenue when his car was struck by a Powder Springs man who fled the scene. The Marietta driver followed the other car and watched the man turn right onto the railroad tracks at Whitlock just as a fast moving freight train bore down. After bumping along for a few yards, the Powder Springs man’s car stalled out. The Marietta driver ran on foot to the car and then yanked the other driver and his wife out just before the train smashed into the vehicle, where it was sent hurling off the tracks and into a nearby wall.

Gov. Carl Sanders was reported in the Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1964 paper announced a so-called “downtown connector” linking the north and south segments of Interstate 75 will be opened within a week. The connector was part of a $32 million interchange under construction that ultimately would provide free-flow traffic connections between Interstate Routes 75, 85 and 20.

In the Wednesday, Sept. 16, 1964 paper reported that professional burglars skilled in the use of explosives blew open a safe at the Smyrna Federal Savings and Loan Association at the Belmont Hills Shopping Center during the night and escaped with more than $2,000 in cash. FBI agents and Cobb deputies were investigating what was called “one of the largest burglaries to hit the county.” The heavy wall safe was torn open and ruined by the blast. The type of explosive used was not immediately known by officers. The following day it was reported that the burglars had used “some kind of ‘plastic’ dynamite.”

One of the two black girls who desegregated Marietta High School was reported in the Friday, Sept. 18, 1964 paper as having withdrawn from the school because of an illness. The pair of students who broke down segregation at MHS when they entered the 10th grade were reported as conducting themselves well at the school. Assistant Principal George Griffin said that the withdrawing student’s mother had determined that she was too ill to remain at school.

Also that day it was reported that two black students would be admitted to the previously all-white Southern Tech in Marietta when the fall term began later in the month. Director Hoyt McClure revealed that the application for one of the students had been approved already and the second was pending the passage of a math achievement test.

A third story reported that Marietta school officials said the race to complete the new Lemon Street High School football field by the all-black school’s opening home game was “extremely close.” Supt. Henry Kemp said the project could be ready on time if no further construction troubles were encountered and if the work moved along at a non-stop pace.

20 years ago …

Cobb commissioners were reported in the Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1994 paper as considering a three-year agreement with Northwest Georgia Health System that would cut indigent healthcare subsidies by $3 million in return for giving Northwest the county’s estimated $40 million healthcare business. The county had budgeted $12.5 million for fiscal 1996 to cover its 3,000-employees, who were covered by several health plans.

Also that day, a Cobb Superior Court judge was expected to hear a defense request to exclude the media from pretrial hearings in the case against former east Cobb resident Fred Tokars, who was accused of ordering the 1992 killing of his wife, Sara. Superior Court Judge Watson White allowed media coverage during the first day of hearings, although he ordered members of the electronic media not to record testimony of witnesses. One of Tokars’ lawyers, Jimmy Berry of Marietta, said because evidence might come out during pretrial hearings that would not be allowed in the death penalty trial, media coverage could taint potential jurors.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at World War I, a shooting, integration, a fire and a bank robbery.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Sept. 11, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a story about the continuing war in Europe, now known as World War I. Austria-Hungary was reported as ready to sue for peace on the best possible terms. It was disappointed and disgruntled at the failure of the German steam roller to crush France and Belgium, and with Russia crushing them, there was no other options left open.

The German army, which had crushed everything before its path, was reported as being checked by the Allied army at the very gates of Paris and were being steadily driven back with great losses. It was also reported that the German army facing reinforcements from England, Russia and Japan would probably be driven from France within days. The Russian army was said to be planning on marching straight to Berlin and that Germany would either have to sue for peace or divide attention between Russia and the French, British and Belgian armies.

A second story reported that there was no fixed market for cotton on account of the exchanges and markets being closed because of the war happening in Europe. All over the South various plans were being set to help dispose of the crop. As soon as the first bale of cotton was brought to Marietta, the Bank of Powder Springs in Cobb County outlined its plan and forwarded a copy for print to the Marietta Journal.

The plan consisted of farmers bringing their cotton bales into the Farmers Warehouse in Powder Springs where they would receive a mark, number, weight and class of the cotton. Then, the farmer would go to the bank and would be loaned money at nine cents per pound of cotton deposited at the warehouse.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, Sept. 6, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal there was a photo showing a 100-foot parachute, opened for drying before repacking, that dwarfed a Lockheed C-130 Hercules assault airlift aircraft which used the large parachute to deliver heavy equipment to ground units in forward areas.

An 18-year-old Smyrna boy was reported in the Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1964 paper as being in serious condition at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta after being shot in the head with a bullet while he and his father were fishing in Fulton County. The pair were fishing at a lake near Brantley and Isom roads when someone fired a rifle across the water. The boy was struck just above the ear by one of the shots.

Republican Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater was reported in the Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1964 paper as having cancelled his Sept. 15 campaign speech in Marietta due to an Air Force regulation which prohibited him from landing at Dobbins Air Force Base. The Arizona senator, however, still planned to speak in Atlanta on that date and would land at Atlanta Municipal Airport in Hapeville.

Also that day, it was reported that white students fleeing West Fulton High School had in “large numbers” tried to enroll in Cobb County Schools following integration. Intensifying the problem, Superintendent Jasper Griffin said, were students living in the surrounding counties of Bartow, Douglas and Cherokee counties who had gained admittance to Cobb schools by false addresses. The West Fulton High School area found that the black students numbered roughly 50-percent of the total school population and white students began to withdraw in order to search for enrollment elsewhere.

In the Thursday, Sept. 10, 1964 paper it was reported that front-runner Ernest Barrett and runner-up Jack Henderson sailed into a final head-on race for chairman of the Cobb County commission after finishing on top of the five-man Democratic primary. It was one of three run-offs to be held on Sept. 23 in the elections for the chairman and four commissioners on the new multiple Cobb County commission. The chairman’s race drew the greatest interest across Cobb during the months of campaigning for local Democratic and Republican nominations. But, the turnout of approximately 25,000 voters out of a registration of nearly 50,000 was a disappointment to election officials.

The clubhouse of the exclusive Chattahoochee Plantation Club on Paper Mill Road was reported in the Friday, Sept. 11, 1964 paper as having suffered major damage when a fire broke out in the kitchen. Fullers Fire Department reported candlelight and steaks were still on several of the tables as they ran through the building fighting the blaze. Chief W.H. Williams of the Fullers department said the fire erupted in a grease vent and spread from there to other parts of the building. Firemen spent four hours fighting the fire.

20 years ago …

In the Friday, Sept. 9, 1994 MDJ it was reported that dozens of people on their lunch breaks in the busy fast-food strip along Windy Hill Road at Interstate 75 were stunned as they witnessed police officers gun down a man suspected of trying to rob a Wachovia Bank branch. Onlookers from the next-door Chick-fil-A watched as the tense scene unfolded.

A 46-year-old South Carolina man armed with a revolver and carrying a fake bomb was killed by police after taking a female customer hostage in the foiled bank robbery. The man’s hostage escaped just before he was killed by three shots from two Cobb County police officers, part of a contingent which had surrounded the bank. The man was pronounced dead on arrival at Kennestone Hospital.

After the suspect was taken from the scene, the Cobb County Police Department’s Bomb Squad arrived to check the briefcase that supposedly held a bomb. After a tense hour of trying to diffuse the potential bomb, authorities determined that it was fake. The device, police said, was a copper tube sealed with duct tape that had electrical wiring sticking out of it.

About 2½-hours later, Cobb Police nabbed an alleged serial robber who had hit an east Cobb bank for the second time in less than a month. The 25-year-old Decatur man robbed the First Union branch bank on Roswell Road in the Eastgate Shopping Center and was arrested a few minutes later at Paces Ferry Road and Interstate 285. Cobb police charged the man with six bank robberies and said he was also a suspect in a bank robbery in Fulton County.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

In Friday, Sept. 4, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a story about the continuing war in Europe, now known as World War I. The Germans, by superior numbers and the great guns of the Krupps, were driving the French back upon Paris and were reported within less than 30 miles of the capital – which was preparing for a long siege. German planes were already dropping occasional bombs into Paris, but were doing comparatively little damage.

The Russians were reported as having met with some success in their attacks upon Germany and their march towards Berlin. Japan was to send a 100,000 men to join the English who were allies with France. There was the possibility that England and Japan would make an attack on Germany through Belgium, which would be a flank movement and cut off the German forces from their own country. Turkey was also reported to have decided to go to war in aid of Germany.

A second story that reported that the first bale of cotton of the 1914 crop was brought to Marietta by Will D. Latimer from the “old W.G. Huggard place” and was bought by Anderson Brothers Company for 13-cents per pound. The story reported that there was no fixed price yet on cotton due to the war in Europe.

It was also reported in that edition that Jack Brumby, son of T.M. Brumby, suffered a bad injury to both his legs at his father’s Linton saw mill. He was rushed home by car and was resting. Details about the accident were not available at the time the paper went to press.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, Aug. 30, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal reported the death of Mrs. Idell Pickens, who for over a month fought critical burns that she suffered in the Fair Oaks Navy jet crash. Pickens had been visiting two sisters at their Fair Oaks home on Austell Road when the jet apparently stalled on final approach to nearby Dobbins airfield, crashed into the home and exploded into flames.

Also that day, it was reported that Cobb County’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention returned to their deep South home cheered by Atlantic City hospitality and charmed by a personable Midwesterner – Sen. Hubert Humphrey. Delegates also came back with reports of private optimism over the outcome of the race against Democrats in other regions of the country.

Cobb County Police were reported in the Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1964 paper as having blocked U.S. 41 and screening passing cars in an effort to find a 25-year-old female hitchhiker wanted in connection with a slaying in Tennessee. The roadblock was set up at 5 p.m. near Army Road about 14 miles north of Marietta. The woman had been reportedly hitchhiking along U.S. 41 after leaving Cleveland, Tenn., where the killing occurred. Details of the murder were not know by local officers. The roadblock was lifted after a few hours when police decided that she had slipped through or stopped somewhere north of Cobb County.

In the Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1964 paper it was reported that approximately 7,000 customers of the Cobb County Rural Electrification Membership Corporation, which is now known as Cobb EMC, shared a $136,000 dividend. The checks ranged from several dollars up to $2,000 and represented approximately a 25-percent margin of profit accrued by the REMC.

A fugitive who escaped from the Cobb County Jail by persuading a deputy sheriff to let him visit his wife one night was reported in the Thursday, Sept. 3, 1964 paper as having surrendered at the Reidsville State Prison. The man turned himself in after remaining at large since September 1962. The man, described as “clever and ‘slick-talking’” by county lawmen, faced a possible revocation of parole for a life sentence after he was convicted to a year’s term for blackmail. He was awaiting a decision from the parole board after sentencing when he escaped.

Republican Presidential Nominee and Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater was reported in the Friday, Sept. 4, 1964 paper as planning to make a campaign speech in Marietta on Sept. 15 and a second address in Atlanta later that day. William Adams of Goldwater’s state campaign headquarters in Macon and Oscar Persons, an aide to GOP 7th District Congressional candidate Ed Chapin, both confirmed the report. Persons said that Goldwater would fly into the state and land at Dobbins Air Force Base, then travel by car to a site in or near Marietta for his first Georgia speech and then drive to Hurt Park in Atlanta for the second. Goldwater was last in Marietta in August 1963 for the official roll-out of Lockheed-Georgia Company’s giant new C-141 StarLifter. He was last in Atlanta for the state GOP convention earlier in 1964.

20 years ago …

In the Wednesday, Aug. 31, 1994 paper reported the mega-merger of Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta Corp. will have “little or no effect” on operations at Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co. in Marietta – at least for the time being. Lockheed Martin would employ about 170,000 with about $23 billion in annual sales, making it the nation’s largest defense contractor. Both companies said that there would be employee layoffs initially, because of overlapping jobs. Lockheed officials, however, claimed there would be little impact on the Marietta plant. Lockheed share holders were expecting to receive 1.63 shares of stock in the new company for each share of stock they currently held.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at the C-130 Hercules “One World,” the integration of Marietta High School and the F-22.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Aug. 28, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, had an advertisement that read “The Greatest Array of Moving Pictures Ever Produced is now headed for The Gem Theatre.” The ad listed that on Aug. 28 the theatre would show “The Perils of Pauline, Number Twelve” a three-part Imp Drama with Pearl White and Jim Web Senator that had “5,000 feet of Moving Picture.” The following day would be “That Famous, Million Dollar Mystery,” a Thanhouser Serial with Flo La Badie, James Cruse and Miss Snow playing lead; and “There Is Destiny,” a Victor Drama with Warren Kerrigan and Vera Sisson. All three specials had a regular admission of five and 10-cents.

50 years ago …

An estimated 6,000 people were reported in the Monday, Aug. 24, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal as being on hand for the parade opening the week-long Acworth Chautauqua. A driving rain, which lasted midway through the Saturday parade, failed to dampen the spirit of the parade or any of activities which followed. Approximately 500 people attended the costume ball that evening. Other features of the weekend were a beauty contest, a water fight, a water ski contest and water games.

In the Tuesday, Aug. 25, 1964 paper, the Marietta Police were reported as having arrested 11 black men after “aimless” shooting had been reported in the city. Officers said the men appeared to have been working in two separate groups. One group was shooting from an automobile on Fort Street and the other was shooting in front of a house on Haley Street.

Also that day, residents of the East Marietta-Red Oak Park area were reported as expecting to begin receiving their long-awaited sewerage service by early October, barring a new onslaught of rain or other unforeseen problems. The installation of the sewer lines was expected to be finishes in two weeks and repaving of the remaining streets would be complete in a month. Cobb Deputy Commissioner Cliff White and M.C. Bishop of the R&H Construction Company said the work would have been done in June or the first of July if the rights-of-way had been cleared before the letting of the contract.

Lockheed-Georgia Company’s “One World” Hercules was reported in the Wednesday Aug. 26, 1964 paper as having grabbed the hearts of many of the nation’s leading aviation writers with a thoroughly awesome, sometimes thrilling, airborne demonstration of its capabilities. “One World,” the first commercial version of the then eight-year-old Lockheed C-130 Hercules, circled over New York City with its rear cargo doors open for a picture window effect as company President Dick Pulver conducted an in-flight press conference. The purpose of the demonstration and press conference was Pulver’s announcement that the Hercules was going on the market as a commercial air freighter. Up until the announcement, it had only been sold to governments.

Another story that day reported that two black 10th-grade girls were expected to register for classes at Marietta High School. It would be the first desegregation of a public school in Cobb County. The girls, transfers from the all-black Lemon Street High School, were expected to arrive by 8:30 a.m. and follow an abbreviated class schedule until school was dismissed at noon.

The following day, Thursday, Aug. 27, 1964, it was reported that integration at MHS went without incident. “I don’t think I’ve seen a calmer day,” said MHS Principal Loyd Cox. There were no gathering crowds as was the scene at other integrations in the South. The three policemen at the front of the school had little to do but direct the normal amount of traffic. The two girls, Traville Grady and Daphne Delk, entered the McCord Street entrance at 8 a.m. and went to their home room. Grady and Delk were to study English, history, biology, geometry, a foreign language and physical education. School Superintendent Henry Kemp said that the high school staff and students “had accepted them, and everyone was living up to the fine reputation Marietta High School has.”

A second story in the Thursday paper reported that Dobbins Air Force Base was serving as a refuge for 25 Navy and Air Force planes evacuated from bases on the east coast of Florida to escape Hurricane Cleo. The planes, both jets and propeller-operated types, were moved from Key West Naval Air Station and Patrick Air Force Base at Cape Kennedy as the furious storm approached from Cuba.

20 years ago …

In the Tuesday, Aug. 23, 1994 MDJ it was reported that Lockheed’s progress to build the F-22 tactical fighter jet, one of the largest single weapon procurements in the 1995 defense budget, came under fire in a memorandum circulated recently to defense department officials. In a memo distributed by Deputy Secretary of Defense John M. Deutch to members of the Defense Resources Board policy council, Deutch asked the Air Force to consider an alternative that “delays the initial procurement of F-22 fighters by up to four years.” Calabasas, Calif.-based Lockheed held two-thirds of the contracts for the F-22 while Seattle-based Boeing Co. held the remaining third.

Also that day, it was reported that Commissioner Gordon Wysong, author of Cobb’s controversial resolution that was critical of the gay lifestyle, urged resolution supporters to stay home rather than attend the weekend human-rights rally on the Marietta Square and set the stage for possible conflict.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

Fifty years ago, on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 1964, an afternoon explosion rocked a storage tank area of the Case Chemical Company on Canton Road in Marietta.

An unnamed eye witness told the Journal that he heard an explosion at the plant at 1 p.m., rushed outside and saw multi-colored smoke billowing several hundred feet in the air. He also said that “oil or some kind of chemical” had blown out across Canton Highway and was the cause of several vehicle crashes.

“It looked like an oil gusher in a [movie] picture and sounded like tons of dynamite going off,” said Mrs. John Bagwell describing the explosion.

Puddles of slick, black oil were reported as having spread a messy, oily coating over several homes, lawns and cars near the Mitchell Drive intersection of Canton Highway.

Mrs. Bagwell’s 19-year-old son, Steve, was reported as having helped avert a disastrous collision. Minnie Gay, the maid for the Dr. James Roberts family, was driving the three young Roberts children from their home on Sandy Plains Road to school when her car was suddenly drenched in the black rain. Unable to see out of her windshield, Gay skidded to a stop on the highway. Bagwell, who heard her yelling for help, ran out to Gay’s car and helped steer and push it off of the highway just before another fast moving car skidded sideways on the slick road right where the car had been moments earlier.

Thankfully, no one was reported hurt in either the explosion or the car collisions.

Louis E. Cutler, president of the Case Chemical Company, told the Journal that a weak weld allowed a 15-inch diameter steel cover to blow off the top of a 1,200-gallon dehydrator tank, which was used in a re-refining process for used crankcase oil. The cover was later found 200 yards east of the plant in a field. Cutler also predicted that the Case Chemical Company, which had become a division Allied Petro Products Inc. of Narberth, Pa., in September of 1963, would be back in operation in 24 hours.

Plant Manager Jack Ray said that a faulty pressure gauge had probably let the tank pressure exceed the normal pressure of 350 pounds per square inch.

There was no fire involved in the explosion – just a mixture of oil and water under high pressure which had erupted from the opening at the top of the tank. The earlier report of “multi-colored smoke” was believed to have been an oily cloud that was carried by a breeze westward across the L&N Railroad, over Canton Highway and along Mitchell Drive.

The immediate plant area was inundated with the liquid along with a 50-foot section of railroad track that still glistened with oil an hour after the explosion. Canton Highway was soaked with inky black puddles until they were covered with sand. Traffic had to be re-routed around the area for about an hour.

Officer Billy Reed of the Cobb County Police Department was reported as the first officer on the scene and that he had called the L&N Railroad to notify them of the oil on the tracks.

A car driven by Doris Floyd was splattered by the black rain, but she was able to bring her vehicle into the parking lot of the General Hardware and Builders Supply Corporation – which was managed by Mrs. Bagwell.

Mrs. Bagwell’s home, which faced Canton Highway and was across Mitchell Drive from her business, was believed to have received the first and heaviest amount of the explosion’s oily rain. Black streaks stained her white eaves, which she said had just been painted the day before. Oil was seen darkening her shrubbery, grass and chestnut trees. Flue liners, fire bricks, a truckload of house shingles and other building supplies at the property also showed signs of the rain.

Richard Spear, the four-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Spear on Mitchell Drive, was reported as being the only person caught out in the falling oil. Mrs. Spear said that her son had been covered in the black liquid and she quickly gave him a bath. The oily film was seen on the gutters at her home, on the family’s car, a lawn chair and the grass.

Next door to the Spear family, the home of L.L. Ingram also had oil stains on its white shingles. Ingram was reported as unsuccessfully trying to wash it off with a hose.

Carl Brackett, who lived across the street from the Spears and Ingram, was reported as telling the Journal reporter that the Case Chemical plant had been giving off an awful odor for some time. Mrs. Bagwell also confirmed that the plant had smelled bad for the past two months. She said that she had begged and pleaded with Cobb County officials to do something about it and also charged that the fumes coming from the plant had affected both her voice and sickened two of her children.

Ray said the plant had been trying to condense the oil fumes to cut down on air pollution and that both the state and local county boards of health had been assured that the odor problems would be fixed by Oct. 1.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at integration, Civil Rights, Lake Allatoona pollution and the Wonderbra.

100 years ago …

In the Friday, Aug. 21, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page was taken up by an advertisement for Henry A. Ward & Co. of Marietta’s August Clean Up Sale. Some of the bargains were Turkish Bath Towels for nine cents, shoe polish for eight cents, talcum powder for seven cents, pearl buttons for five cents, writing tablets for three cents and Basting Spool Thread for two cents.

The second page of that edition showed all of the primary election returns which included a sweeping victory for Sen. Hoke Smith who was believed to have carried 135 counties and possibly had a majority of 160 votes in the convention. Gov. Joseph M. Brown, who was the 59th Governor of Georgia and the son of Georgia’s Civil War Governor Joseph E. Brown, was believed to have carried 15 counties, but lost both Cobb and Cherokee counties. It was speculated that Gov. Brown lost Cobb by over 700 votes and Cherokee by 200.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, Aug. 16, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal it was reported that Marietta School Superintendent Henry Kemp announced that the city’s Board of Education had approved applications from the parents of two black girls for transfer to Marietta High School in September. Kemp, speaking for the board, said that both of the girls – the first blacks to ever apply for admission to the all-white school – would be in the 10th grade. Previously, the two girls had attended the Lemon Street High School.

Another story that day reported that Commissioner Herbert McCollum’s handling of the county government and Atlanta’s reported plans to annex portions of Cobb were the prime targets in a mammoth Mableton political rally two nights earlier. McCollum, who was not present, drew repeated shots as the 1,000-member crowd heard speeches from the five candidates for the chairmanship of the newly-approved multiple commission.

Russell McCall, the 13-year-old son of the Acworth mayor, was reported in the Monday, Aug. 17, 1964 paper as having rescued a three-year-old boy who tumbled into a Houston County motel swimming pool and was struggling in the water. McCall was reported as having dove in, pulled the child out and administered CPR until police arrived. The McCalls were returning from a vacation in Florida and were spending the night in Perry at the time of the incident.

A second story in that paper reported that the long spell of wet weather in Cobb County had left many roads sloppy and slick with mud. The most serious mud problems were reported in East Marietta where roads had been dug up for sewer installations. Virginia Place and Meadowbrook Drive were listed as the hardest hit.

In the Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1964 paper it was reported that the Canton Theater on Main Street in racially-disturbed Canton, which was mentioned in last week’s column (http://ow.ly/AASI5) had been closed for an indefinite length of time following violent reaction to desegregation in the theater. FBI agents and local law officers remained on the alert in Cherokee County amid talk that bands of Ku Klux Klansmen were riding the roads.

Journal Publisher Brooks P. Smith was reported in Wednesday, Aug. 19, 1964 paper that in a move to keep pace with the paper’s continuing increase in circulation, that there would now be two editions each day. First off the press at 12:30 p.m. each day would be the new Metro Edition and the final or City Edition would roll at 3 p.m.

Two Marietta black men were reported in the Friday, Aug. 21, 1964 paper as having told the Journal they were cursed and ordered out of a Dunkin Donuts on Roswell Road by the manager after having already been served by a waitress. The men said they planned to file a complaint with the Justice Department. The manager of the establishment denied that he cursed at the men, but did admit he asked them to leave until he could ascertain the company policy on the matter. The company, headquartered in Quincy, Mass., directed the manager to comply with the new Civil Rights Law.

20 years ago …

In the Thursday, Aug. 18, 1994 paper it was reported that U.S. Reps. Newt Gingrich and George “Buddy” Darden had raised the white flag in their 15-month battle to keep the 116th Fighter Wing at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta. In a joint announcement, the two congressmen representing Cobb said they would no longer oppose the relocation of the unit to Robins Air Force Base near Macon.

Also that day, it was reported that heavy residential and commercial development had been an economic blessing for Cobb and Cherokee counties, but that it could contribute to Lake Allatoona’s downfall in the next decade if the pollution wasn’t halted. The prediction was made during a meeting at Kennesaw State College of the 60-member Lake Allatoona Clean Lakes Task Force, which heard preliminary results of a four-year water-quality study that began in 1992. The 12,000-acre lake, which provided the Cobb Water System with 35-40 million gallons of drinking water per day, had an uncomfortable level of phosphorus, according to the study done by KSC’s A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Service and funded by federal, state and county grants.

The Wonderbra, the “figure-enhancing” brassiere made by a subsidiary of the Sara Lee Corp., was reported in the Friday, Aug. 19, 1994 paper as having made its debut in Cobb at the Upton Department Store on Roswell Road and stores across the metro area. The Uptons on Roswell had an initial stock of 500 to 600 of the Wonderbras, which were popular in Europe and New York over the summer, but as of 4 p.m. with five hours of sales time left they had reportedly sold 250 to 300 of the undergarments.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at the death of a President’s wife, integration and a restaurant fire.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Aug. 14, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a front page story about the death and burial of Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, the first wife of President Thomas Woodrow Wilson who was then the 28th President of the United States, in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Rome.

A special train brought Mrs. Wilson’s casket from Washington with President Wilson beside it in almost constant vigil. With the President was his daughters and family members, Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo Jr. of Marietta and other dignitaries. As the train passed along the bell on the engine was rung constantly and at every large city there were “exquisite tributes of flowers” added to a car carrying those brought from Washington. Most of the flowers from tributes in Washington were sent to area hospitals.

The city of Rome was draped with “black and white crepe and white flowers" and green foliage was used "instead of the gay tri-colored bunting planned to beautify the city on home-coming week when Rome expected to entertain Mrs. Wilson as its guest of honor.” Thousands of people, many in automobiles, were in Rome to catch glimpses of the President, his daughters and companions.

50 years ago …

Cobb County residents were being asked in the Sunday, Aug. 9, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal to break open their piggy banks to relieve a shortage of coins in stores and banks. Grocery stores throughout the county had posted signs at checkout counters urging customers to supply the correct change with their purchases. One Marietta bank had even hung a sign reading “Pennies Wanted” at both of its offices.

Damage suits totaling $400,000 were reported filed with Cobb Superior Court in the Monday, Aug. 10, 1964 paper against two wrestlers and two other parties. Wrestling stars Joe Scarpa and Elmer “Sputnik” Monroe, promoter Elmo Chappell and the ABC Corporation were named in the suits which charged them with responsibility for the “abortive birth” allegedly suffered by a Cobb County woman, who was injured at Larry Bell Auditorium on May 30.

Also that day, it was reported that professional burglars used nitro glycerin to blow open the safe at the Marietta Lumber Co. on Atlanta Road over the weekend and had made off with an undetermined amount of cash.

Jasper M. Griffin, the superintendent of Cobb County Schools, was reported in the Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1964 paper as “seriously thinking of giving up” his life membership in the National Education Association because of what he described as the organization’s “ineptitude and inefficiency and the rudeness shown toward Southern members” at the July NEA national convention in Seattle. Griffin charged that Mrs. Thelma Davis Griffin, national president of the Department of Classroom Teachers, was “treated with extreme disrespect simply because of where she came from.” He also pointed out that 25 percent of the NEA membership was Southern.

A shotgun blast was reported in the Wednesday, Aug. 12, 1964 paper as having been fired into a car carrying two young white men as they rode through a black neighborhood in Canton the night before. One of the youths suffered minor injuries while his 16-year-old companion was in danger of losing the sight in one eye, according to doctors.

A mob numbering in the hundreds, earlier that night, had been broken up in downtown Canton after they had gathered in defiance of a new police-imposed 8 p.m. curfew. Five white teens were arrested for violating the curfew after a crowd had collected as a result of the desegregation of the theater in the center of town by a group of blacks. The integration group was bombarded with eggs and tomatoes by the crowd, one of their cars was overturned and the other was damaged by rocks and bottles as they fled.

The following day, Thursday, Aug. 13, 1964, the paper reported that state patrolmen and city police dispersed a milling crowd of white people for the third consecutive night following the desegregation of the theater. The FBI confirmed that it was investigating the racial trouble to determine if there was any violation of the Civil Rights Act.

In the Friday, Aug. 14, 1964 paper it was reported that vandals attacked and destroyed a new stone fountain in the center of Glover Park. The fountain, which was made of heavy stone and topped with a figurine, was pushed over and “completely destroyed.”

A second story that day reported that a bridge on Highway 5 over Sweetwater Creek, four miles west of Powder Springs, was found to be “not safe for any vehicle” by a five-man committee of the Cobb Grand Jury. In its presentments, the Grand Jury described the bridge as displaying a sign giving a load limit of 4,000 pounds but that it was “used daily for school buses in excess of 4,000 pounds.”

20 years ago …

Commuters travelling between west Cobb and Marietta, who were crawling along Whitlock Avenue, were reported in the Thursday, Aug. 11, 1994 paper as having the option to move at a brisker pace in a few weeks when a series of “run-around” lanes were completed at five intersections near the Marietta Square. However, the city hit a roadblock in its plan to extend the right-hand turn lane on Whitlock Avenue at the Loop. Late in July, the city appealed a court ruling which denied its petition to condemn frontage on two historic properties to make room for the turn lane.

In the Friday, Aug. 12, 1994 paper, it was reported as the lights went out on Major League Baseball because of the players’ strike, a little of the shine was off the game for some of Cobb’s aspiring stars. Members of the East Cobb Braves, who captured their second consecutive Dizzy Dean World Series title in July, said the strike was pointless and the only ones who would suffer were the fans. Owners had insisted on a salary cap and union negotiators said they would not accept one.

A door on a barbecue cooker left open by an employee at Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q was reported in the Saturday, Aug. 13, 1994 paper as having started a small fire that turned into a blaze that caused $100,000 in damage. The fire at the restaurant started about 3:45 p.m. and ripped through the roof at the rear of the then-20-year-old building with a column of thick, black smoke that could be seen a half-mile away as firefighters fought to keep the flames from the propane tanks that feed the cookers. No one was injured in the fire.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at WWI, moonshine, Kennestone Hospital and a sniper.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Aug. 7, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a front page article with the headline of “WAR!!” The story began with how “almost the whole of Europe has become involved in war following the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, of Austria, while on a visit to Serbia several weeks ago.”

Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo, Serbia precipitated Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia, which caused the Central Powers – which were Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the World War I Allies to declare war on each other and started World War I.

At the time of the article, German troops had invaded France and Belgium. The invasion of Belgium, which was neutral, drew England into the fight alongside Russia and France. Both naval and land battles were being reported from various sources, but at the time, the only authentic report of any battle on the sea was from Algiers and stated the destruction of the German cruiser Panther and the capture of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslan.

Another front page story that week reported that Gov. John M. Slaton spoke to the voters of Cobb County at the courthouse after being introduced by Lindley W. Camp. Gov. Slaton spoke on the Tax Equalization law and not once in the speech did he refer to either of his opponents or his race for the U.S. Senate.

It was also reported on the front page of that edition that a six-year-old girl was struck and killed by an automobile after she ran out from behind a wagon near the sanitarium in Smyrna.

50 years ago …

An auto accident in the driving rain was reported in the Sunday, Aug. 2, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal as yielding 154 gallons of moonshine to the Marietta Police. Officers stopped a car for a traffic light at Clay Street and the Four Lane, now known as Highway 41, and promptly was rammed from the rear by another car. The impact sent the trunk lid flying up to reveal the whiskey in half-gallon jars. The whiskey car sped from the scene was found abandoned at a nearby drive-in restaurant.

A $400,000 building to house the Georgia Air National Guard’s 129th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was reported in the Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1964 paper as being planned for 15 acres of land near the county-owned McCollum Airport. The Advisory Board approved giving the land to the Guard at its last meeting. The Guard expected to have 21 full-time employees with a yearly payroll of nearly $250,000 at the site and have the unit train 125 reservists.

Another story that day reported that all streets torn up for installation of the new sanitary sewer system in the East Marietta-Red Oak Park area would be ready for repaving by Aug. 20. M.C. Bishop of the B&B Construction Company said his firm was 90- to 95-percent complete with the pipe-laying project.

A new 52-bed diagnostic and convalescent wing was reported in the Wednesday, Aug. 5, 1964 paper as being added to Kennestone Hospital in an emergency building program to relieve overcrowding. The Marietta Hospital Authority, in announcing the expansion, said it hoped to begin construction in October. When Kennestone’s 100-bed South Wing was opened in 1959, the hospital operated at a capacity of 74 percent. Since that time, the number of patients needing bed space had gone up with the county’s increasing population and the May-June 1964 statistics showed that hospital beds were filled to a 96 percent capacity.

The following day, Aug. 6, 1964, the paper reported that the Lockheed-Georgia Company and the First National Bank of Marietta had pledged $80,000 toward erection of the new addition at Kennestone. Lockheed would donate $75,000, said Lockheed President Dick Pulver. William Beasley, president of the bank, revealed the financial institution would give $5,000.

Another story that day reported the National Urban League, an interracial integrationist organization, asked President Johnson to end racial discrimination in federally assisted public housing in Marietta and 10 other Georgia cities. Whitney M. Young Jr., Urban League executive director, submitted a report to the White House contending the disbursement of government money to these projects were of “doubtful legality” under Title VI of the new Civil Rights Act. The League contended that Marietta operated six totally segregated housing projects – three black and three white.

20 years ago …

In the Saturday, Aug. 6, 1994 paper, it was reported that Marietta Police received a tip that a sniper may try to pick off gays and lesbians attending an upcoming rally on the Marietta Square. Police were given copies of the Internet messages that included – “Are there any nice hills nearby with a clear shot at the demonstrators?” The message went on to say that the “cute little pink triangles [featured on t-shirts worn by gay and lesbian protestors] make such good targets.” Marietta Police Chief Ralph Carter said his department was not investigating the messages because “we don’t’ even know if it’s authentic.” But, he said his department was seeking help from Cobb Police and the messages were also sent to the FBI.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

Fifty years ago, last week, the Marietta Daily Journal reported on a terrible tragedy suffered by the Fair Oaks Community when a Navy Fury jet fighter on approach to Naval Air Station Atlanta at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta crashed into a residential home and killed two occupants.

The Fair Oaks community, which was named for its many mature native oak trees, was located just outside the city limits of Smyrna and Marietta.

Investigators said that the Navy jet seemed to have dropped straight down from the sky atop the white frame home on Austell Road, which was right under the runway approach, shortly after 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, 1964.

The Fair Oaks tragedy was the first fatality for the Marine Air Reserve in Atlanta since the Naval Air Reserve moved to Marietta three years earlier and from the time the Chamblee base was established in 1946.

According to neighbors, there was no engine noise as the jet approached. It was said that it seemed to be making a normal approach, then tilted a wing, dropped from the sky and crashed through the home, which was immediately engulfed in flames.

Idell Pickens, 58, had been visiting the Cassidy sisters and was walking to her car in the driveway when the crash occurred. She was found in the back yard, screaming for help and suffering from burns. She was taken to Kennestone Hospital in Marietta for treatment.

The Cassidy sisters’ minister, Rev. L. Howard Gordon of Crestview Baptist Church, was reported as having just left the home three minutes before crash occurred. He had been visiting L.V. Cassidy, who had suffered a heart attack two years earlier.

W.W. Allen, a third sister – who had been keeping up the house and nursing her sister, L.V., was at the grocery store at the time of the crash. Allen had planned to bake a cake for her two sisters and went out to pick up a lemon cake mix. She was at a grocery store on Powder Springs Road when she heard the sirens and had a premonition that something was wrong.

Allen said that she and her sisters had been used to seeing planes flying over the home every few minutes.

“They flew so low they sucked up the curtains in the living and caused the leaves to quiver,” Allen was quoted as saying.

It took Allen an hour to drive the mile home from the store due to the traffic jam caused by curiosity-seekers trying to see where the plane had crashed. Recounting her ordeal, she said that the streets were jammed with cars, Austell Road was blocked off and that a policeman tried to stop her when she got close.

Eventually, Allen got within sight of her home and saw the flames that had engulfed her house.

Later in the day, among the roped off “charred, acrid-smelling ruins,” four Navy guards were placed on duty to guard the site even though fragments of the jet had been removed.

MDJ Reporter Ruth Schuster reported the following observations –

“A back portion of the home, where the kitchen and bathroom had once been still remains standing.

“A refrigerator, black with burns, lies on its side, the door knocked off. About 30 feet away are two ice-cube trays. The oven lies near the refrigerator. A tea kettle, still shiny, lies nearby. Only a kitchen sink and a water heater remain upright.

“Where the bedrooms were, one can see burned blankets and quilts. A blackened bedspring lies nearby. Ashes of papers and pictures are all over. A green and white box used by a Cobb Center department store at Christmas time, lies by itself among the ruins, apparently unharmed.”

Following the crash, Admiral David L. McDonald, the Chief of Naval Operations, issued a statement to Capt. J.N. Durio, the Commanding Officer of Naval Air Station Atlanta, which read –

“Please pass to the mayor and officials of Marietta, Georgia, together with the members of the Navy League Chapter, my deepest personal regrets over the tragedy of this afternoon, which resulted in the loss of life to local residents. They may rest assured of the Navy’s wholehearted assistance as may be necessary.”

Later that evening, Capt. Durio issued his own statement, which read –

“On behalf of the officers and men of the Naval Air Station Atlanta. I wish to express my wholehearted sympathy and personal regrets to all who were involved in the day’s tragic crash. The Navy/Marine Corps team strives constantly to operate our aircraft with the maximum degree of safety and consideration for the civilian community at all times. Please be advised that an immediate and thorough investigation will be conducted and all claims for damage will be handled as expediently as possible. The timely assistance of local law enforcement agencies and fire departments at the crash scene were greatly appreciated. Again, I join the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. David L. McDonald, in expressing the deepest sympathies of the U.S. Navy in your community’s loss.”

In the Monday, July 27, 1964 paper, Cobb Commission Chairman candidate Ernest Barrett was reported as having called on the federal government to buy homes and property in the Fair Oaks area in a move to prevent a repeat of the disaster. Barrett, who operated a laundry in Fair Oaks, said he would call Sen. Herman Talmadge and Rep. John Davis to urge the initiation of the plan. Barrett’s plan involved the government buying all property in the landing pattern between South Cobb Drive and Old Highway 41.

The following day, Tuesday, July 28, 1964, it was reported that Rep. John Davis called on the Air Force to investigate immediately the feasibility of taking steps at Dobbins Air Force Base to prevent future accidents. In a telegram to Air Force Secretary Eugene Zuckert, Rep. Davis asked if the property at runway approaches couldn’t be bought by the federal government.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

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